Gould gives
another example from a famous German anatomist:
“... the Negro brain resembles that of our children, and by the protuberance of the parietal lobe, that of our females... The
grown-up Negro partakes, as regards his intellectual faculties, the nature of the child, the female and the senile white... Some tribes have founded
states, possessing a peculiar organisation; but as to the rest, we may boldly assert that the whole race has, neither in the past nor in the present,
performed anything tending to the progress
of humanity or worthy of preservation.” |
 |
|
Another also-ran in the cranial capacity Olympics, the intelligence race. However, the winner has been
decided from the outset because one of the competitors is also the organiser who is able to alter the rules of the race as needed. What takes on an increasingly
clear profile by means of this categorisations process is not so much those who are being categorised as those who are defining the categories. Physical
characteristics segue into pseudo-scientific theory so that putative criminals (‘eyes too close together’) can be recognised by intelligent
(‘highbrow’) people. Providing the highbrows are not black. Then, “In view of all the evidence it does not seem possible to raise
the scholastic attainments of the Negro... It is probable that no expenditure of time or of money would accomplish this end, since
education cannot create mental power.” |
Not all scientists supported this line of investigation or its conclusions. Many were vehemently against
it but had their ideas co-opted. Alfred
Binets humanistic attempts at assessing levels of intelligence is a case in point. His work, commissioned by the French government for the purpose
of determining appropriate education for mentally challenged children, is to be seen against his background statement of principle that no assessment
could be quantified and that education (environment) was critical. |
